Yeah...I'm an early riser...my cat sees to that :)
The problem that I have with the Arwen/Frodo scenes is that it's Arwen defying the Black Riders instead of Frodo. And when you take out the Barrow Downs scene, Frodo comes out looking wussier than he really is.
I see the Last Homely House the same way you do...A nice cozy place with lots of fireplaces. The movie Rivendell looks like it was shot completely in the sun room or something. I guess there aren't any weather events in Rivendell (where's the small, windowless, interior room that you're supposed to get into when a tornado approaches?)
I liked the falling leaves. It fits in with that "perpetual fall" description that they give of the Elf places. Check out this picture of the "Rivendell valley" drawn by JRR Tolkien. Doesn't it look like the movie shot of the valley when the Fellowship is departing?
It does, it also looks like a similar view painted by Alan Lee, so he must have based his on this one by Tolkien.
You're right, the movie Frodo missed those chances to show the steel within his character. It came out a little at the council though, when he volunteered to bear the ring "though I do not know the way." Very brave.